Arizona Chickens

[BlueBaby]

I have 4 pips on the "Bad Boyz" duck eggs this morning! Tomorrow is day 28.

Come on little duckie's, hatch!!!

 

[BlueBaby]

Yuma with a part time job in north Phoenix, for now. I went to college in Vegas but left there in 2009. I’m pure AZ now.

I'm south of Phoenix, rural of the city of Maricopa.

 

[budkingston]

I'm south of Phoenix, rural of the city of Maricopa.

I go to Mesa every week. I pass through Maricopa using “Dead Cow Road”. Out of staters are always surprised to hear we actually have a road named that in our glorious state.

I love our state. I was in Winslow/Flagstaff last weekend, still snow on the ground in Strawberry and Pine. We’ve got everything here, to include wide open spaces.

 

[Parront]

Why barred Holland’s? The white eggs? I’ve never had these, but After 55 years of chickens and as many breeds, variety, and mixed up chickens, my thoughts always go back to the dual purpose breeds.

Our current harem are ISA browns but the eggs tend to be “thin”. I assume this is because they lay an egg every day. We prefer those orange golf ball yolks over the yellow flat yolks as they tend to burst with flavor.

We are also tired of that bland “chicken flavored meat” they sell in the store. Chickens that are free ranged and eat bugs, grass, and everything else besides grower mash just taste better.

By going with a dual purpose bird, we could resolve that issue.

I met a fellow on here who breeds them, they are pretty rare. I like white eggs, and these are nicer and larger birds than a Leghorn. I think a few white eggs makes the rest look more colorful! I have eaten the cockerels from the Barred Hollands, they are larger than a Leghorn, but only about 2 - 2.5 pounds at 12-14 weeks. The 14 weeks are about right, less pinfeathers and 2.5 pounds or so. They started to crow as young as 10 weeks, they had to go!

 

[budkingston]

We wish we lived in an area where we could have roosters, we would breed them ourselves and allow the cockerels to grow to the point where they were only eliminated due to overpopulation/competition.

So that puts us back into the incubator business. If Trader Joe's had the brown eggs that were fertilized, we'd be hatching those. The white eggs they sell turn out the leghorn style that we pretty much dislike due to their melodramatic and neurotic personalities. We're trying to avoid getting eggs shipped through the mail.

It would also be nice to hook up with AZ breeders so we could at least see the chickens they are coming from. Everyone we know gets their chicks at Cal Ranch Stores and Tractor Supply.

 

[BlueBaby]

I met a fellow on here who breeds them, they are pretty rare. I like white eggs, and these are nicer and larger birds than a Leghorn. I think a few white eggs makes the rest look more colorful! I have eaten the cockerels from the Barred Hollands, they are larger than a Leghorn, but only about 2 - 2.5 pounds at 12-14 weeks. The 14 weeks are about right, less pinfeathers and 2.5 pounds or so. They started to crow as young as 10 weeks, they had to go!

Speaking of white egg's, one of those new NN Alhoa hen's that I got lay's a big white egg. It's even bigger then my biggest tan egg is from my NN/Bresse mix hen, and my green egg NN hen! They will look good in the egg carton together though.

 

[Parront]

We wish we lived in an area where we could have roosters, we would breed them ourselves and allow the cockerels to grow to the point where they were only eliminated due to overpopulation/competition.

So that puts us back into the incubator business. If Trader Joe's had the brown eggs that were fertilized, we'd be hatching those. The white eggs they sell turn out the leghorn style that we pretty much dislike due to their melodramatic and neurotic personalities. We're trying to avoid getting eggs shipped through the mail.

It would also be nice to hook up with AZ breeders so we could at least see the chickens they are coming from. Everyone we know gets their chicks at Cal Ranch Stores and Tractor Supply.

I have some Naked Necks that were bred by @BlueBaby on here. I like them. They are mixed, 3 lay green eggs and one is a large bird bred for meat. Here are some of them playing in the compost pile.

 

[Parront]

Speaking of white egg's, one of those new NN Alhoa hen's that I got lay's a big white egg. It's even bigger then my biggest tan egg is from my NN/Bresse mix hen, and my green egg NN hen! They will look good in the egg carton together though.

As long as you can get the carton to close! I am close to having to use a rubber band if I put too many of them in the same carton.

 

[BlueBaby]

As long as you can get the carton to close! I am close to having to use a rubber band if I put too many of them in the same carton.

Did you forget that I bought a bunch of the Jumbo sized egg carton's about a month ago from Stromberg's?

 

[Parront]

Did you forget that I bought a bunch of the Jumbo sized egg carton's about a month ago from Stromberg's?

No, but I did not get any! I have lots of rubber bands.